Question

The sea holiday

Was her past, mine is her laughter.

Both wry With the laboured ease of loss.”



1. Who is ‘her’ in the above lines?

2. Why is the mother’s laughter the poet’s past?

3. What is the poetic device used in the phrase ‘laboured ease of loss’?​

Answer 1

Answer:

1. poets mother
2. the poet also used to laugh at the mother's past when she was alive. together they would often look at the snapshot of her mother's sea holiday trip with her cousin and uncle. ... the snapshot constantly reminded the poet of her mother's irreparable loss.

oxymoron

Laboured' and 'ease' are opposite words describing the same entity 'losses'. The loss of the holiday and the laughter was easy because these things have to be accepted as a part of life. They are merely a part of the past and cannot be brought back or relived.

Explanation:

The sea holiday was a part of the mother's childhood, her past and the mother's laughter is the poet's past as her mother is no more. 'Both' refers to the mother's laughter and the poet's memory of her mother. Both were tinged with loss-the mother had lost those happy childhood days and the poet had lost her mother.